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Monday, October 1, 2012

I was quite taken by a tiny grape vine at a friend's home in south west France just recently. It stretched across a single wire between two small posts, groaning with luxurious plump bunches. It looked happy and
content nestled against the side of my friend's house. Perfectly
positioned to capture the warmth of the southern sun with an uninterrupted view of the Pyrenees.

I was captivated by the
size of the vine, its massive crop and the freshness of the fruit,
only moments from harvest. How could I have not noticed this before,
just walked by?

The story was soon relayed
to me. Alex (my friend) planted the vine several years ago. It was a present from her sister, Charlie. Bought by Charlie
at Hampton Court Palace on one of those rare plant sale days. Charlie knew full well Alex would tend it, love it and appreciate its
extraordinary history.

This very grape vine is a
cutting from the original grape vine planted at Hampton Court Palace
in England in 1769 by Lancelot “Capability” Brown. To me, this is mind boggling!

Capability's
legacy has spread as far as south west France! His grapes are growing strong here, year in, year out and have even found their way to my
table. How glad I am I spotted the tiny vine growing in Alex's garden and
asked the question.

We devoured the bunch
(above photo) Alex gave us and we savoured each and every grape.
Indulging ourselves as we did so in the romance of the past and with
grateful thanks to her, to Charlie and to Capability and to those in
between who have cared enough to preserve this precious, living, important monument from our past.

Alex's home in south west
France is also a B&B. If you love great food and great comfort
with stunning views look no further. Find Alex's details at www.quartierbidos.co.uk If you look carefully, on the very far left of the house, in the photograph on the website's front page, you can just see this precious vine.

The
Great Vine
in the Hampton Court Palace Gardens is the oldest and largest
known vine in the world. Here's what the palace staff have to say
about this remarkable grapevine:

The
Great Vine is more than 230 years old and 36.5 meters (120 feet)
long. It is believed to have been planted by Lancelot "Capability"
Brown around 1768, during his time as Surveyor to George III's
Gardens and Waters. The vine is also the oldest plant in the
palace gardens, having come from a small cutting at Valentine's
Park in Essex (which no longer survives)

The
Great Vine was first planted in a glasshouse built to house Queen
Mary's collections of exotics from the tropics. Its roots were
planted outside, and its branches were trained inside the
glasshouse, which measured 18 by 4 meters (60 by 13 feet). By the
1790s, the vine was thriving so much that the glasshouse had to be
lengthened by a further 3.5 meters or 11½
feet.

In
1800, the girth of the trunk was 330 mm or about 1 foot. In 1887,
it was already 1.2 meters or 4 feet around the base; today, it
measures 3.65 meters or 12 feet around the base. Its longest rod
is 36.5 meters or 120 feet.

The
current aluminum Vine House was built in 1969. It incorporates
wrought-iron Victorian supports. The rebuilding was unique as it
was the first time a glasshouse was built around a plant. Both the
frame that supports the Vine and the viewing gallery (still used
by the general public) come from a 19th Century wooden vine house.

The
Vine was first shown to the public in the 1840s when Queen
Victoria opened the gardens to the public.

The
Vine usually blossoms in early May with small and fragrant
flowers.

The
crop is usually harvested in September. It takes the Vine Keeper
around three weeks to remove all the grapes. The crop averages 500
to 700 bunches of grapes that weigh 220 to 320 kg (507 to 705 lb).
The largest recorded crops of grapes from the Vine were 1,800
bunches in 1798 and 2,245 bunches in 1807.

The
grapes, which are black and sweet, have always been used by the
Royal household as dessert grapes. In 1930, however, George V
started sending the grapes to hospitals, and within five years
they were being sold to palace visitors. Today, the full crop of
black eating grapes is sold to visitors in the palace shops in
late summer or early autumn.

In
1933, the grapes were 6 shillings per pound. A shilling of this
went towards the baskets in which they were sold. These baskets
were specially made by soldiers blinded in the First World War.